Factors Underlying Attitude towards Agriculture as Predictors of Willingness to Enrol in the Subject by Senior Secondary Students in Botswana

Abstract

Poor interest and declining enrolment in agricultural education at senior secondary schools in Botswana has been a major concern which contradicts government policies of economic diversification through development in the agriculture sector. This study identifies factors underlying senior secondary school students’ attitude towards agriculture and, based on these predicts students’ willingness to enrol in the subject. Survey data was collected through the organisation of a validated Likert-type instrument from a multi-stage stratified random sample of 240 senior secondary students in Botswana. Principal components analysis and regression analysis were used for data analysis using SPSS 19 Software. Six attitudinal factors namely, attitude towards agriculture, willingness to study agriculture, usefulness of agriculture, value attached to agriculture, feelings towards agriculture and interest in agriculture were extracted. The derived scores for these factors significantly predict students’ willingness to enrol in agriculture. The findings were discussed and it was recommended that the attitude of students towards agriculture should be improved by using encouragement and motivation strategies. Future research should include unseen or latent variables in the prediction of students’ attitudes.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1p377